In today's episode, we catch up with Dr. Josh Pederson, an Associate Professor of Communication Studies within the College of Communication and Information Sciences at the University of Alabama. Like most kids, young Josh had early aspirations to be a professional baseball player or a police officer--he knew that he liked working with people, and like many young kids, he realized that making it as a pro in baseball might not pan out. As an undergrad, he found himself seeking out programs and colleges that offered courses in communication because he had been on his high school's competitive speech team and he loved that environment. This all led to finding his way to graduate school and finding his way into the position he has now where he studies interpersonal and relational communication. But, what Josh really studies is the ways we communicate with one another in interpersonal settings when there may be a conflict or stressor--whether it be a parent/child relationship, a partner relationship, or a friendship. He tries to better understand how we overcome things through interpersonal communication and relationships when we are sad, angry, or dealing with a stressor. He highly recommends The Office for the best thing to watch on television, and as you'll hear, he's already got the reality television show he'd like to be on picked out--you'll have to turn in to hear his answer! 
To learn more about Dr. Pederson's research, https://jrpederson.people.ua.edu/.
To follow him on Twitter: @jrpeders
To follow us on Twitter: @ICIRAlabama

Ver todos los episodios